Portfolio Management Plan Murrumbidgee River
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Commonwealth Environmental Water Portfolio Management Plan Murrumbidgee River 2017–18 Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Front cover image credit: Baby Murray River turtles at Two Bridges Swamp. Photo by Joanne Ocock, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Back cover image credit: Grey falcons at Balranald. Photo by Peter Morton. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners, their Elders past and present, their Nations of the Murray-Darling Basin, and their cultural, social, environmental, spiritual and economic connection to their lands and waters. © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2017. Commonwealth Environmental Water Portfolio Management Plan: Murrumbidgee River 2017–18 is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This report should be attributed as ‘Commonwealth Environmental Water Portfolio Management Plan: Murrumbidgee River 2017–18, Commonwealth of Australia, 2017’. The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright’ noting the third party. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment and Energy. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Commonwealth environmental water portfolio management planning Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is a statutory position established under the Water Act 2007 and is responsible for managing the Commonwealth’s environmental water holdings. This water must be managed to protect and restore the rivers, wetlands and floodplains (and the native animals and plants they support) of the Murray-Darling Basin. Mr David Papps is the current Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. He is supported by staff of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office. The Office employs six local engagement officers who live and work in regional centres across the Murray-Darling Basin. Commonwealth environmental water Commonwealth environmental water holdings are water entitlements that have been acquired by the Australian Government through investments in water-saving infrastructure and purchases on the water market. The holdings are a mix of entitlement types held across 19 catchments. The rules governing the entitlements vary across states and across catchments. Commonwealth environmental water entitlements are subject to the same fees, allocations, carryover and other rules as equivalent entitlements held by other water users. There are broadly three options for managing Commonwealth environmental water: delivering water to a river or wetland to meet an identified environmental demand carrying water over for use in the next water year (referred to as ‘carryover’) trading water, that is, selling water and using the proceeds to buy water in another catchment or in a future year, or investing in complementary ‘environmental activities’. Purpose of the document This document sets out the plans for managing the Commonwealth environmental water portfolio in the Murrumbidgee catchment for 2017–18. Efficient and effective management of Commonwealth environmental water requires the utilisation of all portfolio management options. By taking a multi-year approach to planning, portfolio management tools such as use, carryover and trade can be managed for maximising environmental outcomes. The portfolio management plans support transparent, coordinated and adaptive management of Commonwealth environmental water, consistent with the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy and having regard to the Basin annual environmental watering priorities. To learn more about the planning approach see Portfolio Management Planning: Approach to planning for the use, carryover and trade of Commonwealth environmental water, 2017–18 (available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/water/cewo/publications under ‘Planning approach’). Delivery partners Commonwealth environmental water is managed in conjunction with and delivered by a range of partners. This portfolio management plan has been developed in consultation with our delivery partners, including New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Primary Industries – Water, and Water NSW. Your input The management of Commonwealth environmental water relies on considerable advice and assistance from local organisations, state governments and others. Individuals and groups within the Murray-Darling Basin community are encouraged to submit suggestions for the management of Commonwealth environmental water. Please contact the Office via: [email protected]. 1 Table of contents Commonwealth environmental water portfolio management planning 1 Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder 1 Commonwealth environmental water 1 Purpose of the document 1 Delivery partners 1 Your input 1 Table of contents 2 1. Environmental watering in the Murrumbidgee catchment 3 1.1. The Murrumbidgee catchment 3 1.2. Environmental objectives in the Murrumbidgee catchment 4 1.3. Environmental flow requirements 5 1.4. Monitoring and adaptive management 6 2. Portfolio management in 2017–18 8 2.1. Antecedent and current catchment conditions and the demand for environmental water in 2017–18 8 2.2. Water availability in 2017–18 9 2.3. Overall purpose of managing environmental water based on supply and demand 10 2.4. Water Delivery in 2017–18 11 2.5. Trading water in 2017–18 13 2.6. Carrying over water for use in 2018–19 13 2.7. Identifying Investment Opportunities 14 3. Next steps 27 3.1. From planning to decision making 27 3.2. Further information 27 Bibliography 28 Attachment A – Expected outcomes from the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy 30 Attachment B – Library of watering actions 33 Operational considerations in the Murrumbidgee catchment 33 Potential watering actions under different inflow scenarios 33 Potential watering actions – standard operating arrangements 37 Attachment C – Long-term water availability 43 Commonwealth environmental water holdings 43 Other sources of environmental water 43 Planned environmental water 43 2 1. Environmental watering in the Murrumbidgee catchment 1.1. The Murrumbidgee catchment The Murrumbidgee catchment covers 84 000 square kilometres of southern New South Wales. It is bordered by the Great Dividing Range to the east, the Lachlan Catchment to the north and the Murray Catchment to the south (Green et al 2011). The river originates in the alpine area of Kosciuszko National Park and flows through the Monaro High Plains and the low-lying plains of the western Riverina, joining the River Murray south of Balranald. Supporting a complex range of natural ecosystems, the Murrumbidgee catchment contains many significant in-channel and wetland habitats including the mid-Murrumbidgee and Lowbidgee wetlands, which provide important habitat for a range of aquatic and terrestrial species including frogs, fish and waterbirds. The primary users of water in the region are the two major irrigation districts in the catchment— Murrumbidgee and Coleambally Irrigation Areas. Irrigation also occurs around Hay and Balranald in the west and in eastern parts of the catchment, including around Wagga Wagga. Regulated water is provided by two major headwater storages, Burrinjuck Dam on the Murrumbidgee River and Blowering Dam on the Tumut River. Collectively these storages have a capacity of 2654 GL. Most of the flow in the Murrumbidgee River comes from the upper portion of the catchment, and is delivered by the main tributary rivers: Cotter, Yass, Molonglo, Queanbeyan, Bredbo, Numeralla, Goodradigbee and Tumut (Kingsford & Thomas 2001). Several tributaries located immediately downstream of the dams contribute significant inflows, including Adelong, Adjungbilly, Gilmore, Hillas, Tarcutta, Kyeamba, Jugiong, Muttama, Billabong and Houlaghans Creeks, and Goobarragandra River (Sinclair Knight Merz 2011). The middle and lower portions of the catchment do not contribute significant inflows. Figure 1: Map of the Murrumbidgee catchment (courtesy of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority). 3 1.2. Environmental objectives in the Murrumbidgee catchment The long-term environmental objectives for the Murray-Darling Basin are described in the Basin Plan’s environmental watering plan and the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy, which includes ‘quantified environmental expected outcomes’ at both Basin-scale and for each catchment. The expected outcomes relevant for the Murrumbidgee catchment are described in Attachment A. Basin state governments are also developing long-term watering plans for each catchment. These plans will identify the priority environmental assets and ecosystem functions in the catchment, the objectives and targets for these assets and functions, and their watering